Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Equity BancShares (NASDAQ:EQBK) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, January 3rd, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has $45.00 target price on the bank’s stock, down from their prior target price of $47.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Equity BancShares from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Monday, November 12th. DA Davidson started coverage on shares of Equity BancShares in a research note on Tuesday, November 20th. They issued a buy rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Equity BancShares from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 15th. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Equity BancShares from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, November 23rd. Finally, ValuEngine upgraded shares of Equity BancShares from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $44.25.

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Equity BancShares stock opened at $34.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.93. Equity BancShares has a one year low of $31.32 and a one year high of $44.30. The firm has a market cap of $536.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.72.

Equity BancShares (NASDAQ:EQBK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 17th. The bank reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.71 by ($0.07). Equity BancShares had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 9.43%. The company had revenue of $38.19 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Equity BancShares will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Equity BancShares news, Director Gary C. Allerheiligen purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $37.00 per share, for a total transaction of $37,000.00. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 12.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teachers Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equity BancShares by 7.8% in the third quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 24,404 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $958,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equity BancShares by 55.7% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 3,008 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Equity BancShares by 30.6% in the second quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 13,247 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 3,104 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Equity BancShares by 37.8% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 13,611 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,731 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Equity BancShares in the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. 60.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Equity BancShares Company Profile

Equity Bancshares, Inc operates as a bank holding company for Equity Bank that provides a range of financial services primarily to businesses, business owners, and individuals. The company accepts various deposit products, including demand, savings, money market, and time deposits. Its loan products include commercial and industrial, commercial real estate-backed, commercial lines of credit, working capital, term, equipment financing, acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, real estate construction loans, homebuilder, agricultural, government guaranteed, and other loans, as well as letters of credit to national and regional companies, restaurant franchisees, hoteliers, real estate developers, manufacturing and industrial companies, agribusiness companies, and other businesses.